Christmas Miracle

So if you've read through any portion of this blog, you know that my favorite writer is Madeleine L'Engle...her imagination is amazing and her faith inspiring. Whether it's her fiction for kids, adults, poetry, personal memoirs, advice on the writing craft, thoughts on God....whatever the subject, she writes with a clarity and purity that gets to the heart of the story. Her novels make me want to read to the last page and go pick up my own notebook and pen...and it's one of my life's goals to own every book written by her. I currently own 15 of about 60....and the latest addition to my collection was a Christmas gift from my parents....The Rock that Is Higher: Story as Truth. I've been reading it slowly in order to savor it...and imagine my delight (by delight, I mean a squealing, jumping-up-and-down, 5 year old on Christmas morning kind of joy) when I randomly flipped to the title page the other day and saw....HER SIGNATURE. The loopy, unmistakable handwriting is RIGHT THERE (For Megs, & her story - Madeleine L'Engle)...which means that this book in my hands was once in hers....that somehow, through what I can only attribute to a miracle, I own a signed copy of a Madeleine L'Engle book. Which may not be a big thing to most people, but it's a huge thing for me. The funny thing is that my mom didn't even realize that she had bought a signed edition -- she just followed my instructions to buy any books from Better World Books (you should, too! this is proof that buying used books is like treasure-hunting!) and randomly picked this particular book (the notes from the seller never mentioned the signature -- maybe it somehow slid by them, too!)...so I now have this small connection to a woman that, through her work, has become a cherished mentor-ish figure to me...and I think it's one of those small things that she would have smiled about.

If you look here, you'll read the story of another of Madeleine's fans and her signature...and you'll read an excerpt that shows what Madeleine thought about the importance of a name...

Ideas for Your 2010 (music & books I fell in love with during 2009!)

If you're fortunate, you've already experienced the talents of these authors and musicians that occupied my brain space during '09....and if you haven't, you have something to look forward to!

These are my favorite discoveries of 2009...

The novels of Marisa de los Santos . Love Walked In and Belong to Me are heartwarming, unique stories of families...Marisa does an amazing job with her characters. They're genuine, real people -- people I'd love to know in real life.

I read sixteen novels by Elizabeth Berg this year. Sixteen. You can safely assume that she's amazing. Her novels are full of life -- family, friendship, the art of appreciating the small moments of a day. I'm in the middle of her book of writing advice, called Escape into the Open: the Art of Writing True. If you have any inclination to write, it's a must-read. It's friendly and encouraging -- and contains great writing exercises.

Sing Them Home, by Stephanie Kallos, is a novel about missing people. It's about how absences affect us, how our heritage affects us...it's beautiful, really. I can't wait to read her other novel, Broken for You. It's on my list for the new year!

I'm not usually a sci-fi reader, but a friend recommended the John Twelve Hawks Traveler series and I was hooked after the first couple of pages...these novels are fast-paced, action-packed, and thought provoking. They make you step back, look at the world, and go -- whoa. There's a grid and we're all on it. It also opens up that realm of parallel-world kind of stuff, which is always fun.

My last stand-out suggestion, even though I can add more if anyone's interested, is Audrey Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry. It's creepy and a little twisted -- the perfect historical/haunted/rainy October kind of book...


And as for music...I've always been a Bethany Joy Galeotti fan and she's part of a group called Everly...they haven't released a full album yet, but I'm eagerly anticipating it...check them out! And, um, this one!


Happy reading!

Gotta' Love This

I'm reading Joe Jones by Anne Lamott...and just came across this quote that made me laugh in recognition: "She thinks: Being me is just so time consuming."

Thanks to Laura

The Little House on the Prairie series was the first I ever read by myself...I can't remember how old I was, but I remember how much I loved following Laura's adventures. The wagons and wide prairies and cozy nights tucked in with the sound of Pa's music - it all thrilled me. The books spurred much of my early 'pretend' playing and influenced my choices throughout childhood...such as my insistence that my sister and I name our bikes so that they could be our 'horses'....and many, many, many games of 'pioneer'. Following the Little House books, I began to read more pioneer stories written for kids...and then fell in love with books by Janette Oke (this was also because of my lovely grandmothers, who both let me raid their bookshelves and taught me by example that books are to be loved). The majority of Janette Oke's Christian books are set in the 1800s and gave me the grown up's perspectives of those courageous settlers.

I was thinking about all of this because I unpacked long-closed boxes of books from those days and kept taking out book after book with this theme...(though Laura's books have been safely on my shelves, most of my childhood reading materials have been packed up in the garage)...it makes me smile, to think of how ready I was for some adventure of my own (and how much I longed to live in a dugout by a creek).

I looked up the Laura Ingalls books this morning and found that they've been remarketed for the younger generations....which is good. I hope I can pass this love of mine down to my own kids...especially if I ever have a girl. Because Laura Ingalls is definitely full of girls-can-do-anything antecdotes. Here's a cool list of recipes and activies drawn from the books - all fun ideas!

I'm glad my parents gave me those books so long ago...they opened up an entire world with that simple gift.

In a Fairy-Tale-ish Sort of Mood

During a recent trip to the movies, I saw a preview for Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass. This was a book I received as a gift waaaaay back in 1997 (I know this for sure from the inscription, which begins 'to the girl who always has her nose in a book'. Apparently a decade hasn't changed me all that much). It's fantasy and is the first book in Pullman's trilogy - which, unfortunately, I never finished reading.

I pulled the book out and reread it last night. There are things I didn't know to catch as a thirteen year old, such as the fact that these books are drawn from Milton's Paradise Lost and the controversial subject matter of the Dust, which is supposedly related to original sin. I can't elaborate on that without finishing the books - many mysteries were left unsolved in the first installment. But The Golden Compass is full of adventure and it was fun getting caught up in it again...

As I read it, I realized that it has been a long time since I have read a novel that is purely fantasy. I've reread Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy and Lewis' Narnian books in the past couple of years, but that's about it. It's odd, because as a kid I loved Madeleine L'Engle's science fiction books and I remember devouring Ursela Le Guin's Earthsea series...I think that I have this idea of grown-up fantasy/sci-fi books as books filled with vampires and werewolves and badly written cliches, which doesn't make me want to read them.

I'm hoping that I have misinformed myself...because I enjoy stepping into worlds different from my own and I'm sure that children's literature doesn't have a complete monopoly on good literary fantasy.

So I'm hoping to expand my reading list - if you have any suggestions, please let me know!

Looking Forward To...

Becoming Jane, starring Anne Hathaway, is going to be released August tenth...and I cannot wait to see it.

Here's the link to check out the trailers and other film related items - www.becomingjane-themovie.com...

If you like Jane Austen's novels (I do!) and Anne Hathaway's acting (I do!), then you'll be as excited about this movie as I am...

A Beautiful Thing

If I were Julie Andrews in a swirly skirt and musically gifted children in my charge, singing of my favorite things during a thunderstorm - this, dear friends, would be one of the first items I'd melodically appreciate...

Love This.

Basically, it's like Netflix for books...though the company has been around for a while, I just discovered it via a mention on the Publisher's Weekly website. The cheapest package is $9.99 a month - and for that, you can have two books sent to you as many times as you can fit in during thirty days...free shipping, no late charges, and a large inventory from which to choose. I love knowing that new books are heading towards me...and since it's so easy to browse, I found myself looking at authors I've never heard of before. With one easy click, I can add them to my list and poof! Broadened horizons.

If you're a book lover (especially if you're a book lover with kids who don't exactly have the patience for long, leisurely trips through the grown-up sections of the library), this could be just the thing for you.

The Post In Which There Is A Sundry of Items

A In Which The Day Quickly Fades

These were my thoughts when I woke up this morning: I'll get the boys dressed, run over for a quick playdate with their pal Xander, run to the store to finish up Easter necessities (a dozen eggs to color, for one extremely important item), and I'll be home by 3:30 to clean house and have a few hours for reading/playing with Sean's castle/catching up on blogs/etc., etc. etc.
What is it that they say about the best laid plans?
For one thing, I usually underestimate the time it's going to take to get all three of us out of the house. It doesn't take me that long to get dressed and ready to go...but then there are the juice cups to grab, the extra Pull-ups to remember, oh - that box of clothes for Xander, and I know I put my phone down somewhere....
Anyway, by the time everything was packed up in the car (including children), it was almost eleven o'clock. Playtime was fun - we went outside for a while, where their azalea bushes are crazy in bloom, and watched as three kids three and under attempted to play nicely.
We left about two and entered the realm of Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart on a holiday weekend. What was I thinking? Especially about myself, because if I had taken the time to honestly say - I have the hardest time making up my mind about which particular grass to buy for Easter baskets or what color, exactly, I need new toddler socks to be...I might have just gone on home and ventured out after dark when the boys were at home with Neil after his dress rehearsal for the Easter play. But I didn't think it through and so the time-sucking fangs of Wal-Mart - won, yet again.
And when I had just gotten to the register - after waiting for twenty minutes in line - I got this call from Neil:
N- "Hey, where are you?"
me - "Checking out. Finally."
N - "Real quick, get out of line. I need some solid red shorts to go underneath my costume for tonight."
me - "Um. What?"
N - "Solid red shorts. Not too baggy. And not with any markings. To go under the soldier costume."
me - "That's what I thought you said."


Three stores later, I found the appropriate shorts. He has a solo in which he ends up kneeling, so the shorts really were needed, and needed by six pm...but wow. Not the afternoon the kids were looking for, to say the least. They were remarkably well behaved, though, so we all rewarded ourselves with a chocolate chip cookie and Hi-C fruit punch from Subway.
It was well after six o'clock by the time we pulled up in the driveway and by the time I had cleaned up the kitchen, found the rest of Neil's costume stuff, and boiled eggs for coloring later on tonight...it was somehow dark-thirty.


B, In Which Two Sentences Exhibit the Joy of A Carrie-Friend

1. She made double banana pudding, just so she could share.
2. She voluntarily helped me to tuck my newly planted flowers in for the night, to protect them from the frost - literally, under light sheets...and she didn't make me feel that crazy for doing it.


C, In Which I Discuss Reading, Writing, and a Resolution

I've taken a few days off from the novel-writing, to splurge in a bit of a reading-fest. I'm so excited about all of the books lying around the house (from a used-book store run and the library on Tuesday) that it's been way too hard to stick to just one book...I've found myself trying to read five at the same time. You don't, um, get too far like that. I've found that when working on the novel gets a bit frustrating (as it was earlier this week), a good book binge is helpful fuel. I totally and completely concur with that age-old wisdom - if you want to write, you must read. For me, it's especially essential in a dry spell. When I read some really good writing, it makes me excited about language again...it makes me want to try my own hand at the craft.
Anyway, my frustrated post reaped some encouragement, which was much needed and appreciated...and it inspired me to make a decision - I'm going to try to get up an hour earlier than everybody else, at least every other day, for solid writing time. Not a terribly innovative idea, but one that's been difficult to carry out, since...I'm, um, fond of my pillow. I usually don't get to bed until late, so the early morning (pre-kids waking up) thing is something I should probably already be doing but haven't had the will power to try. I figure if I make a public intention to do it, I might be more prone to follow through. So you've seen it here- my way-past-new-year's resolution.

D, In Which I Am Excited About Proust!

So Luisa over at http://www.novembrance.blogspot.com/ posted an entry about how she and a friend were going to re-read In Search of Lost Time, the classic series by Proust. I have never read Proust before, and she piqued my interest with her description and obvious excitement. I checked out Swann's Way and by page two realized that I was definitely going to have to read the entire series. Anyway, we have a page so that we can all discuss the books as we read along...if you're interested in reading the books with us, or just in checking out the discussion, head over to http://www.teaandmadeleines.blogspot.com/.

E, In Which I Ramble About the Nature of Hope

A certain wonderful friend of mine had some high hopes sort of dashed against glaring rocks yesterday. And I've been trying to come up with something comforting to say to her, because I know that she's feeling a bit down...this is all I've managed to come up with.

Hope is a strange thing. We try not to do it sometimes, in order to save ourselves from disappointment (though it's usually still there, down in the basement with the lights turned off and the deadbolt locked)...it's an emotion of anticipation, of belief that the things that we want or need are morphing into reality. When those things don't actually materialize, we can feel let down. Angry that we let ourselves get worked up....maybe even sort of foolish, for indulging in expectation. We tell ourselves that we won't let it happen again - we will work on lowering our expectations.
Don't do it. If we stop hoping - especially when it comes to attaining our dreams - then we are essentially taking away a bit of the belief we hold in ourselves. If you lower your expectations, then you're robbing yourself of greater opportunities...and I know that good-hearted, hard-working people are deserving and capable of handling these greater opportunities. And even if it takes longer than expected, they will come. Don't lose a propensity to hope for marvelous things...sometimes we have to hold onto faith in the unexpected, in the out-of-nowhere grace that life can give. Hope has gotten us to where we are now, in one way or another. It'll get us to the next place.

and F, In Which I Say "So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye"

(The Sound of Music is on ABC Family all weekend, starting tonight.) So..."I flit, I float, I fleetly flee, I fly. The sun has gone to bed and so must I..."

It's a Christie-ish Sort of Day...

A Christie-ish sort of day...which means the boys and I had lunch from Chick-fil-a (we love our chicken, as all good Southerners should), followed by a trip to the library(Godwin! Proust! If You Give A Mouse A Cookie!), followed by a perfect cup of coffee (made by yours truly. which for the rest of the world means way, way, way too much sugar), followed by house cleaning while watching an Audrey Hepburn movie (Paris, When It Sizzles)...
It absolutely thrills me that Sean and Christian get excited when I tell them that we're going to the library...Sean randomly told me that he wanted a Blue's Clues holiday book before we got there, and so I let him ask the children's librarian for it...it was his first official request to the librarian. I know it seems like a small step, but to me - he is searching for books. I've somehow communicated to him the joy in that...which is happy, happy, happy. I didn't even mind having to hush him every 3 seconds when he kept yelling about something else so cool that he had seen on a shelf...Christian can't ask for specific books yet, but he sure does do a great job of flipping through all of the kiddie board books and 'talking' about them at the top of his lungs. "Ball!" "Tree!" "Happy Birthday TO you!"
I'm sure the librarians downed a few bottles of Tylenol after we left.


Anyway, today started out in an unexpected discovery...thanks to the mega brain of Google.com...I happened to think of googling my dad's name...I was curious to see if his church web page would pop up. I'm not sure if it did or not - I got distracted when the third search result showed up with his name on a genealogy page. I clicked it and discovered that some distant relation found that side of my family on some side of her family...and so she did the research that took my direct ancestry all the way back to 1776. I didn't have time to fully investigate all of the information, but the coolest thing I've found so far is the actual will of my great (times 5) grandfather, (James) Levi Bailey. He was born in 1776 and died in 1851...his will is on file in the Madison County courthouse. This sort of thing fascinates me in general - to be able to read the actual words of one of my ancestors like this is incredible. Some random facts that I found interesting - Levi served as a captain of the third regiment of the militia from his county in the War of 1812 and Baileys Mountain in Madison County was named for him. I'm sharing the will here because it's such a glimpse into another era of our history...I particularly love the way that he wills away five dollars each to some of his children...and also the "smith tools and still and waggan". I'm excited to poke around a little more into the ol' family tree...it's all of those people falling in love and having children and making lives for themselves that brought me into existence...and my own little munchkins, too. I just wish that there was record of more besides death certificates and marriage dates - I'd love to know the stories behind all of these names. Who were they? What did they make of their lives and what did they think of this world? It's improbable that I'll ever really know - but it certainly is fun to imagine each generation in their time, farming and preaching (as it seems every other generation chose to do), and making their place while they were here. If I could speak to them, I'd have to say thanks - thanks for beginning a heritage for my grandparents, for my dad and his siblings, for me and my own...and for my babies. I hope that I can continue it in a way that would make them proud.
And now enough of my rambling. In his own words, Levi Bailey:



Last will & Testament of Levi Bailey sr Dec'd State of North Carolina March the 31st 1851


Madison County

In the name of God amen, I Levi Bailey seignior do hereby make my last will & testament in manner and form following towit, Knowing myself at this time to be sound in body and memory, my will and Desire is to dispose of what property and estate I now have or may have at my death as follows, and first it is my and desire that my son Levi Baily and his children have three hundred acres of land and.fifty acres on the east joining said lands -2 it is also my will and desire that Elizabeth Crowder and her children have part of the 200 acre tract, all on the west side of the ridge that runs through the plantation where I now live3 and also it is my will and desire that my grandson Levi J Baily have all on the east side of the ridge4 and it is my will and desire that Sarah McMahan,and her children have one hundred acres of land beginning on the corner of the 200 acre tract inculding the building where I now live it being two thirds of a hundred and fifty acre tract and runs from east to west5 and it is also my will and Desire that my grand son James M Bailey have all the lands above the lands of Sarah McMahans first - fifty acres. 2nd, 150 acres. 3rd, 100 acres of land. 4th fifty-acres of land. 5 - also 100 acres of land laying at the head of the branch that I live on6th and it is also my will and desire that Elizabeth Crowder and her children have the tract of land that they now live on contain 130 acres more or less and if I should dye first, it is my will and desire that my wife and the family should live here together till her decease both whites and Blacks, and work together as they formerly have done, and at her decease she can dispose of what she has at her will, and those of my children not mentioned in this will, have all had their parts - towit Allen Bailey Dec. and Nancy Jervis, Dorcas Anderson, Willey C Baily Joyce Holcombe and Polly Holcombe, but these six I will five Dollars a piece at my wifes death what of my property that is left behind, Stock of all kinds to equally divide among four towit - Sarah McMahan Elizabeth Crowder & James M Baily & Levi Bailey Jr and it is also my desire that the Black woman letty be free at my death and my wifes --- and at my wifes death my will and desire is my -son Levi Baily and grandson James M Baily have my two Black boys.Jack & alfred and also it is my will and desire that my son Levi Bailey have the Cupboord and bureau and black – and it is also my will and desire that my son Levi Bailey and James M Baily have the smith tools and still and waggan --- and I do hereby appoint Riley Allen and Ira Crowder my executors to this my last will and Testament, Given under my hand and seal day and date above written under 'ined before assigned Attest Levi Baily

I Heart Dr. Suess

Happy Birthday to The Cat in the Hat!


Today is the fiftieth anniversary of a classic - and it all started with Dr. Seuss taking his list of words appropriate for beginning readers and creating a book that kids want to read.

Carrie started Sean's collection of Dr. Seuss books when he was born - and both he and Christian love to hear each one that's been added on holidays and birthdays. What's not to love? Dr. Seuss books ooze with color, crazy characters, silly rhymes. In Seussville, imagination is the law of the land. And who doesn't like to yell out - "I DO like green eggs and ham, Sam I am!"

There are several ways you can celebrate the birth of the Cat - take part in the National Education Association's (www.nea.org) Read Across America Day! Read The Cat in the Hat aloud (to yourself, to your goldfish, to your kids or your neighbor's kids) and be a part of the nationwide read-along. Check out www.seussville.com and send the Cat in the Hat a birthday card - for each card received, Random House is donating a book to the First Book organization (www.firstbook.org).

Every kid deserves to know the thrill of being transported to a new world through the written word...

In the words of the Doctor himself, from the book I Can Read With My Eyes Shut -


Young cat! If you keep your eyes open enough, oh! the stuff you will learn! the most wonderful stuff!

and

The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.

Recap of My Brain

It's Tuesday at exactly 7:57 pm, and I am unreasonably tired. I usually don't feel like this until, oh - at least 8:14.
So here's what I'm doing.
On the ipod, I'm alternating between Switchfoot, Natasha Bedingfield, and Avalon's album of hymn remixes...and I'm listening obsessively to the podcasts from the Kindlings Muse, hosted by Dick Staub...
In addition to the usual Gilmore Girls and 24, I'm tivo-ing Gray's Anatomy, Brothers and Sisters, Veronica Mars, and Heroes. One day I will catch up.
I just finished reading A Song I Knew By Heart, by Bret Lott. His writing is breathtaking - it is literally so beautiful that it makes me cry. So I'm now reading Jewel, another of his novels. I'm working my way through Isaiah, as well, which is a book so threaded with rich language that it takes a while to soak it in. Nothing will ever be so amazing as the language of the King James Bible.
I'm working on several different writing projects - my novel, as always, and a short story for Faith in Fiction and Relief Journal's Daily Sacrament contest...both groups are in my links and worth taking a look at if you have interest in faith and the arts.
What else? Chocolate cake baking, finger painting, tower building, and in about two seconds - bath giving.
Goodnight, Moon.
(Yeah. Right. Like that's actually happening in the next four hours. I guess it's the hope that counts.)

Snapshots

Moments of bliss from the past week...

Saturday weather roll the windows down perfect, with a frappaccino in the cupholder, the miseducation of lauryn hill blasting through the car speakers, and a long stretch of highway ahead.

Stimulating conversation at the Steak and Shake at 11:30 pm and nothing to rush away to except sleep.

Having your room bumped up to the preferred guest floor...expecting to walk into a smallish double bed scenario and instead opening the door to a king sized bed, kitchen, sitting room...

Falling asleep and staying asleep until your body is rested enough to wake up all on its own...getting up and making coffee, then taking it back to bed with a book.

Showering, dressing, applying make up....taking sweet, precious time.

Strolling through the mall, catching a movie...the easy life.

Rushing to the front door to see a two year old grin and say "Mama mama mama daddy daddy!" and say, can I have a hug?, and he says 'no.' But hug him anyways and grab the baby who slobbers all over you and you know you're home.

Driving the hour and a half road back to the home address with a small to-go pizza in the front seat, Friends in the DVD player, and the kids asleep in their car seats.

Two days off to play in the sunshine...

and back to work. But work is just fine because I started my three days of business off with a trip to the library...
Yesterday I read Quinlin's Estate, by David Ryan Long (author of faithinfiction.blogspot.com)...it's so suspensful that you cannot help but devour it. Today I have read F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, finally. It left me unsatisfied. I didn't need a happy ending, per se...just all of the characters fully developed. I guess that's one sign of a good book...to keep wondering about the characters after the conclusion of the novel, but it's kind of annoying in my brain where I already have enough voices living. Ha ha.
I've started Tolstoy's War and Peace. So far, so good...
It's pretty overwhelming to attempt to read all of the 'classics'. It's not a small category...and today I read a list of the best 100 novels since 1923, as decided by the Times critics. It is appalling how few of those I have read. So after the Russian authors, we move on to that list. Because even though it is a list based on their opinions, that 100 is obviously comprised of influential works. I wish that I could get snowed in at the library.

And there we are.

Random Thoughts

Friday. 4:09 pm. I type on the laptop in a weary daze, yawning and rapidly blinking my eyes. I have given up caffeine- at least for the afternoon- and so struggle on through the hours.

I am thinking of the Narnia movie coming out on December 9th and how the Disney producers better do justice to C.S. Lewis' work. Start messing with favorite books from childhood and you're on sacred ground. But it looks great. Narnia.com....check it out.

I read a book borrowed from Carrie this week...Edna Ferber's Giant. So well written. So good. Put it on your must-read list.

I am currently reading The Element of Lavishness (letters of Sylvia Townsend Warner and William Maxwell.) Both novelists, they met through the New Yorker, for which William was Sylvia's editor. He describes her conversation as so enchanting that he never wanted to let her out of his sight.
Don't you think it would be incredible to be described as enchanting?
And he wasn't even speaking in the romantic sense of things...he meant her mind...her work. He was in love with her writing.

I am happy to go home to my boys tonight. I get a little starved for cuddles and giggles and shiny big eyes when I've been at work for these three days. I love walking through the door...Sean runs to me with a "Mooommm" and a hug and a tug at the hand ("'Cmon")....and Christian lights up like a 4th of July sky and grins...his little dimple shows up and his tiny teeth are so precious and he reaches out those little hands to me....ahhhh....it's a wonderful thing to be loved by these amazingly handsome and sweet creatures...